Little Ewan passed away this morning. Please continue to pray for the family.
Both
the daughter and granddaughter continue to be in an induced come. The
granddaughter is now suffering from a respiratory infection and has not
been able to have the first skin graft surgery. This makes the risk of
infection greater.
Our God, however, is greater! Thank you for carrying these to His throne.
Alesha
Please pray for Lindsay, Emma and Ewan Norcross. They were burned in
a gas oven explosion. All three are burned 40-60% of their bodies.
They are the daughter and grandchildren of missionaries Jay and Linda Aarseth. Doug and I went to college with Jay.
I know they would appreciate your prayers.
Thanks,
Alesha
Isaac and I had a quiet day together yesterday. It was my first day
alone with him, and the Lord was merciful – Isaac had a sleepy day.
That means he was a little bit easier to care for because I didn't have
to readjust him quite as many times during the day, as I would have if
he had been full of vim and vigor!
I still have quite a bit of
pain while changing him, but it is tolerable. I am sitting in a chair
to do his changes, and I lower his hospital bed down to the right
level. We are so thankful for that bed!
I am also able to do
some stretches now with my leg, and that seems to be helping with the
pain when I stand and walk. The chiro started working on my neck this
week. My spine is in deplorable condition, unfortunately. However, as
I continue to lose weight and visit the chiro each week, I am confident
that I will eventually have a healthy back to go with my healthy body.
I didn't get in this shape (or lack thereof) overnight, and it will
take some time to reverse it. I am trying to not be discouraged with
our new eating plan, and just keep going forward with it.
I just
wanted to say again, "Thank You!" for your prayers and for your sweet
words of encouragement. They have meant so much to me, and have helped
to carry me through the past seven weeks – particularly the past two
weeks. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
I pray you all
have a wonderful, fun-filled weekend, and that you and I will be able
to be in the Lord's House on Sunday to worship Him together,
Alesha
This
is a little succulent in the same flower pot with my gardenia. It
decided to bloom today right outside Isaac's window. So pretty!
Our house finally sold!!!
I feel the tiniest bit of improvement today!!
It is a beautiful day here in the Florida sunshine!
What more could I ask for?
God is good!
Hmmm…I have a few minutes this morning to give ya'll an update on things here at the hacienda.
Isaac
is doing fine, although his seizures have been on an upswing last week
and this week. We had that one week of relatively few seizures and it
was wonderful. That has been followed by our seeing an increase in
them. We are planning to have blood work done next week. Perhaps that
will give us a clue to the extra activity we've been seeing.
Doug
is doing well. He goes in to work really early and stays really late;
and 2-3 times a day comes home to feed Isaac and change him if he needs
it. I don't know how he gets everything done at work; but I am so
grateful and amazed and overwhelmed by the kindnesses that have been
shown him there. Not one of his bosses has questioned his time or
schedule, and none have fussed about his time spent here. That is to
be appreciated at any time, but most especially during our current
economy.
Believe me, I am so thankful!
I am doing…as well as can be expected, I guess. I don't want to say "fine". That's so
not true. But I don't want to bore you with what my level of pain is
for each day either. I was able to go 2 days without taking the
prescription pain meds. I just took OTC stuff.
Yesterday I stayed alone with Isaac for a few hours, and changed 2 diapers (and they were not
the easy ones, either!). I walked more yesterday, too, than I have for
a while. So last night I tossed and turned most of the night, trying
to find a comfortable position that didn't hurt, but not able to wake
up enough to realize I needed to take some medicine. 
Finally,
shortly after 6 a.m., I was able to wake up enough to take some pain
meds and that helped quite a bit. I didn't go back to bed, though. I
want to be good and tired for tonight, so that I will sleep more
soundly.
I guess I am going to have to carefully gauge my
activity for the day, then decided whether or not to take the
medication. As much as I want to be off of it permanently, I cannot
heal properly with improper sleep. I end up defeating my purpose. I
will be paying better attention to that at night when I head to bed.
Yesterday I received a sweet card from a sweet friend:
It
just made my day to know that she was thinking of me, praying for me,
and then took the time to send me a card to let me know. Thank you, my "west coast friend"!!!
Nearly
every day I have received emails, messages, or e-cards from kind,
praying friends. I appreciate that so much. Some of my friends have
even forwarded my prayer request to other friends or prayer lists. I
was really touched to have one of my friends' friends send me an email
of her prayer for my family. Such kindness from strangers truly
touches my heart, too.
The sweetest thing, though, has been
having my mom here. She has swept; mopped; washed and folded laundry;
washed and put away dishes; changed Isaac's videos and diapers, pad and
sheets; cleaned the bathroom; cleaned ceiling fans; took the dog out;
emptied trash cans; peeled carrots; and shook out rugs.
Not that she had
to do those things! She could've just sat and visited with me until
Isaac needed her; but she likes to be busy, and doesn't care to sit for
very long. Every day she tried to leave the house spotless and in
order for Doug, so that when he came in, he only had to fix us supper
and care for Isaac. She accomplished her goal every day, let me assure you! 
It
has not been easy to be in need. It goes against my very nature. I
like to be a need-meeter. That's just the way God made me. So this
has been a learning time for me. And a humbling time.
I just
pray that I can get better, continue to lose weight, and be able to
minister to my parents, especially to my mom, the way that she has done
for me the past 2 weeks. My two main motivations for become healthy
are to be able to care for Isaac as he grows, and to be able to care
for those in my family who need me now, or will need me in the future.
God willing, Doug and I will continue on our path to health!
Thanks
for dropping by and taking the time to read this post. I think I have
lost many readers during this season of not having much to say. 
However, it is usually not a bad thing to go through a quiet season
with few words. You usually end up hearing so much more than when you
have so many of your own words to speak.
May God continue to mold us all to His image,
Alesha
Obtaining Mercy 